mini IPcam Gadinan 2MP vs Dahua 4431

[frank10]

I tried this very little and cheap ipcam, with real IRcut filter:
1080 P Rete 2.0MP mini IP Board Camera ONVIF 2.8 12mm Varifocale manuale Obiettivo Zoom P2P Plug and giocare con IR CUT in 1080 P Rete 2.0MP mini IP Board Camera ONVIF 2.8-12mm Varifocale manuale Obiettivo Zoom P2P Plug and giocare con IR-CUTda Telecamere di sorveglianza su AliExpress.com | Gruppo Alibaba

I compared with a Dahua 4431, unfair comparison of course, but just to see how far you can go with these tiny cam. (cameras hanged in a hurry...)

Both @1080p, Gadinan seems not bad at all:http://imgur.com/Ylrvgbl

Dahua @1080p:

Obviously Dahua at max res it's better, but not that huge difference. WDR instead is a lot better in Dahua.
Dahua max res + WDR:

Again, obviously, Dahua is better at night (also @max res here), but with the Gadinan noise reduction is quite good.
(I don't get to White balance correctly the Gadinan which is yellowish...)

Dahua night @max res:

So, I'm impressed for only 27€ (3x price less) and such little dimensions 4cm x 4cm!

 

[frank10]

Anyone helping with these settings? There is no help to understand all options...
ie. what these do:
BLC? AE Reference? DNC? AGC? Slow shutter?
Good manual exposure at night in ms?

 

[wantafastz28]

Search, I didn't recognize AGC level... searching just on the forum, someone explains, it is the white balance.... my guess without using Google is automatic gain control? Search search search.

 

[frank10]

Ok, I found for AGC and shutter speed:

Slow shutter high, AGC limit 15

With AGC limit you set optimal white level at artificial light.
These 2 parammeter have no influence at day time.

That's the reason I tried to change some settings but didn't see anything: it was daytime...
This should solve the yellowish.


I tried also the Automatic/manual Exposure but I don't get it: With auto there are too much overexposed areas, in manual 1/4000 or 1/10000 it's ok, but on night it should not go well.
How should I set Automatic with no overexposed areas?
Auto + WDR + BLC: NO:


Manual 1/4000 + WDR + BLC: OK:

 

[randyth]

Thank you for this comparison.
That is quite nice result from the Gadinan! I don't see major quality difference between the screenshots (maybe like 10% difference) while the price difference between the cams is ike 50%.

 

[frank10]

Thank you for this comparison.
That is quite nice result from the Gadinan! I don't see major quality difference between the screenshots (maybe like 10% difference) while the price difference between the cams is ike 50%.

Yeah, impressive.
But at the moment, Dahua is better in WDR (even if I increased the quality settings in the last pic: for example in the upper long house with sun, if a man walks is completely washed out in Gadinan, in Dahua is perfectly visible) and @max res you can really zoom in and still get some details you don't get with 1080p (like reading far plates for example).
But for "normal" use with people near and in front of the camera, it's great, really so little difference, if any (maybe a bit of face details...).

Apart these, Gadinan seems great for the price and also because it's so tiny you can hide everywhere! It should also be noted you must buy an enclosure to cover it... so let's say it's about 31-33€. Still great 2MP cam.

 

[nbstl68]

Where do you find enclosures? Are there different options? Do they make a IR version with real IR cut filter? I see no place for an actual IR cut filter to fit \ operate.

 

[frank10]

The IR cut filter IS there, between the sensor and the lens, in that tiny triangular space, you can clearly hear the "clack" when you switch it manually or in auto-mode and you see the result in video. But it's there only in the versions without the enclosure, the other ones haven't it.
For the eclosures I don't know well where to buy uptonow, I think I'll search some plastic boxes to adapt...

 

[frank10]

I tried the slow shutter @night, but I don't know what it really benefits, apart from slowing down a lot fps...
I.e. I set 15fps max
none:15fps
low:7.50fps
medium:5fps
high:3,5fps
The only visible result is a slightly improvements in the white balance of the pic: it's not so yellowish, but still it's not good, still a bit yellow. It darkens also.
AGC idem, I don't see improvements neither with 15 or 100...

Of course the video is jagging due to low fps... so I disabled it.
But, what's the benefit??

 

[frank10]

Ok, I found these descriptions:

[Exposure Mode] In automatic mode exposure time range is between 0.1~80ms, in
manual mode exposure time can be set to 1/60, 1/120, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000,
1/4000, 1/1000ms, default is automatic mode.
[Day/Night Mode] Automatic mode will set color mode on daytime and black &
white mode at night, color mode display color image only, black & white mode display
black & white image only.
[BLC] Close or open Back Light Compensation
[Auto Iris] Close or open automatic electronic Iris.
[Profile] Select indoor, outdoor or automatic mode, default is automatic mode.
[AE Reference] Set automatic exposure coefficient between 0~100, default is 50.
[DNC] Set Day/Night Convert Threshold between 10~50, default is 30.
[DWDR] Open or close Digital Wide Dynamic Range, the range is between 0~100.
[AE Sensitivity] Set automatic exposure sensitivity between 1~10, default is 5.
[AGC] Open or close AGC, the range is between 0~100.
[Slow Shutter] Select None/Low/Medium/High slow shutter, higher slow shutter
produce better night vision.
[IR_CUT Mode] Select “IR Synchronous Switch” or “Automatically Switch”, on “IR
Synchronous Switch” mode the IR CUT filter will synchronous with IR LED light.
[DayNTLevel] Select Day Noise Reduction Level between 0~5, 0 disable noise
reduction, 1 reduce less noise, 5 reduce more noise.
[NightNTLevel] Select Night Noise Reduction Level between 0~5, 0 disable noise
reduction, 1 reduce less noise, 5 reduce more noise.
[Mirror/Flip] Enable the check box to turn the image up-side-down for H602x
camera.
[Anti Flicker] Enable the check box to avoid image flickering under a periodic light
source.
[IRSwap] Enable the check box to reverse IR Filter status

Anyway, these:
[AGC] Open or close AGC, the range is between 0~100.
[Slow Shutter] Select None/Low/Medium/High slow shutter, higher slow shutter
produce better night vision

aren't that clear... AGC? it doesn't seem to balance color...
And the slow shutter is unusable because of dropping fps too much... maybe low it's still acceptable, but I don't see a lot better night quality.
Now I'll play with AE ref. and sens. to see if it gets a correct exposure also in auto.

 

[frank10]

Ok, AE ref put to 1 reaches 1/10000 with strong sun, at default 50 it doesn't. Good.

 

[nbstl68]

Do they make this in a model with IR cut AND actual IR...and in a case?
...and maybe wifi?

 

[frank10]

What do you mean with actual IR? An IR led to illuminate at night?
I saw only these without the enclosure, so only board+IRcut+lens.

 

[nbstl68]

What do you mean with actual IR? An IR led to illuminate at night?
I saw only these without the enclosure, so only board+IRcut+lens.

Yes, I meant a version with IR cut & on-board IR in an enclosure and POE or Wifi.
So far though it looks like the night quality is pretty poor and\or the units have not been all that reliable so I hesitate to investigate further for any actual security use.
Would still be useful for an unobtrusive camera in-house to watch the cats or a kid's room though where you know what \ who you are looking at.